M*A*S*H* - middle school style

Go here. Thank me later.

 

-o-o-o-

 

Posted via email from technosocialite

Possibly one of the greatest musicians of ALL TIME

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My super good friend and co-blogger to our failing LOST book club, Mr. Tony B, has just finished his second album and is prepping for its release next month. So spread the word, cos this kid has talent. And one of the songs may or may not have been written about me, so get excited for that (none of them were).

 

Check out Tony B's awesome blog, and disseminate the link to his electronic press kit far and wide. Also: buy his CD. I know, I try to avoid paying for music form the big stars because I hate major labels as much as you do, but it's worth it to help out an artist who develops every aspect of his craft as a business - and on his own. Word on the street is that if you ask him real nice he'll sign it for you. I've already buttered him up so once release day comes, I'm paypallin him dineros and he's shipping me my very own six-panel wallet, matte paper case with the awesomeness that is his singing/ songwriting inside.

 

-o-o-o-

Posted via email from technosocialite

Atomic Bomb Detonator Cables

Atomic Bomb Detonator Cables

- Atomic Bomb Detonator Cable -

DESCRIPTION: These cables are used to detonate the charges in atomic bombs.  It is perfectly legal to own these, and they are relics from the atomic bomb development at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  SPECIAL NOTES: The photo is representative of the cables, so it is not the exact cable you will be able to purchase, but it is representative of what we have in stock.  If you buy one of these in person and then go through airport security, good luck (just kidding – they are harmless without the rest of the bomb, which we do not have in stock). PRICE: $5 .00 each SHIPPING: UPS, USPS and other shipping services are available. FOB Los Alamos

(via Black Hole Surplus)

 

-o-o-o-

 

No joke, kids. You can own your very own part of the Manhattan Project. Now all I need is an atomic bomb... Hmm...

Posted via email from technosocialite

Bookshelf Porn

 

(via Design You Trust)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I know I've been rubbish about posting this week, but I couldn't pass up this one. It's just so... intriguing.

Posted via email from technosocialite

I just fell a little bit more in love with Chipotle

Chipotle, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. I never have to stand in line for 45 minutes at your downtown SF location because I can just order online and pick up my treats at your pick-up window. You have Coke Zero on the fountain. Bless you. And you have a super kick-ass and geeky marketing campaign. The woman picking up food before me received a large bag with this printed on the side:

 

My first thought was 'This has to be a major design eff-up, right? Like, some severely retarded marketing team thought Lorem Ipsum was the translation of some clever ad campaign and just ran with it.'

 

But nay. According to Chipotle Spokesman, Chris Arnold:

"It's not an accident, no," says Arnold. "It's sort of an inside joke. That block of copy is standard issue for people in advertising and design. We thought it would be funny to leave it in and see what sort of reaction it drew."

Evidently I am not alone in my supposition that all went awry in the production department at my favorite foil-wrapped burrito establishment. So either Arnold is genius for covering up the mistake in a coy and fun way, or Chipotle is staffed with a bunch of lit geeks who know how to get people talking about their campaign. Case in point. Either way, I like.

Posted via email from technosocialite

The Giving Pledge and Its Potential Impact

 

(via MintLife Blog)

 

-o-o-o-

 

This is awesome :)

Posted via email from technosocialite

Expensify Rocks in DailyFinance

Expensify: When it comes to office paperwork, is there a more annoying task than filling out expense reports? Enter Expensify, a still-very-small start-up that promises "Expense reports that don't suck." If that sounds like an oxymoron, give the service a try, and you'll find an easy to use system that centralizes users' financial actions by tracking expenses, creating statements and reports, facilitating payments, and connecting clients to financial institutions. Entirely Web-based, Expensify is leading the way toward paperless accounting, saving trees -- and headaches. Amid countless sub-par personal finance services, Expensify doesn't suck -- it rocks.

(via DailyFinance)

 -o-o-o-

 

I recently befriended Expensify co-founder Curtis Chambers, who has quickly become like the big geeky brother I always wanted, replete with sharing tech knowledge, coordinating geeky group outings, and even picking on me like big brothers do. Anywho, DailyFinance, which has more page views than TechCrunch, just featured the above glowing review of his startup! Congrats Curtis, and HT to you, my friend!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Have I mentioned I'm super active in Google Reader?

Even if you don't use Google reader (hey, not everyone can be a baller, right?), you can still see all my awesome finds here. Why? Because I ready something like 50-75 blogs at any given time, and sometimes I get lazy with this blog and don't post for a while. But just because I'm not writing, doesn't mean I'm not reading. It's a lot easier to click a button that says "share" than it is to create an entire blog post about said item. Bear with me - I don't see you going out of your way to show me all the awesome things you see on the netterwebs. (But I'd probably like you a lot more if you did) (Only if your findings are as rad as mine, though)

 

-o-o-o-

Posted via email from technosocialite

Tetris Love

 

(via FAIL Blog)

 

-o-o-o-

 

less-than-three!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Guest blogger: My Dad!

Yesterday I sent my dad a link to the post I wrote that mentioned him. He's a huge reason I am as geeky as I am. I remember growing up with a basement full of computers that he was always taking apart and putting back together. I learned to type before I learned cursive. And I'm guessing the fact that we're both obnoxiously analytical and overly curious has something to do with that whole parent-passing-traits-to-their-offspring theory. After reading my post, he wrote back, and he had a lot of great points. Thusly, I present to you, the first guest-post here on my fabulous blog. An email from my father, Steve Wikoff, Operations Analyst for the DOD.

 

-o-o-o-

 

Hi ya,

I'm not sure how to take being called an expert in "hitting rakes".  Seems like I should be smart enough not to keep getting hit by them after a while.  I do agree about your salient point; experience can trump education.

I was once told by a supervisor that I couldn't think right (a misnomer since he never supervised me on anything).  I asked him why he would say such a thing?  He responded  "You don't have a degree. A degree teaches you how to arrange your thinking and present coherent ideas".  I ask him why it was that his engineers, some with Masters degrees, are in my office, every day, and I am teaching them on my white board.  He responded : "Well, you have experience".  I looked at him incredulously and replied; "No shit". 

A degree, particularly in technology, is only as good as what you are taught.  As technology evolves, if you don't keep up, you are left behind.  If you you don't have a degree but keep up with technology, are you less educated than the degreed engineer that doesn't keep up?

I have always said  "You can buy an education but you can't buy experience".

I am constantly fighting the idea that somehow you can replace experience with saturation training.  I have been told by two Army Colonels (a rank that usually takes 18-25 years to achieve) that if I accelerate the training of the soldiers I work with I can achieve "Senior Satellite Controllers" quicker; as though exposing someone to concepts can replace experience. I use the analogy " You can't train someone to be a senior citizen. It takes time to get there.  If accelerated training would work we could train 2nd Lieutenants to become Colonels in three years". Some reason or another that analogy hasn't been received well.

So, thank you for using me as a reference in your blog, even though I keep hitting myself with that damn rake.

ILY

Dad

Posted via email from technosocialite

The only staircase I ever want

 

 

 

 

When Leonie and Rhodri added the upstairs, the architect proposed a handsome and clever book-lined staircase to house their formidable combined libraries in one streamlined space. "It's just brilliant because the way it's conceived, you can walk by it and not even notice it,” Leonie says. "So it's like this fabulous surprise.”

 

(via Apartment Therapy)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I want to go to there. My roommate is always giving me a hard time about how many books I have in my room, so maybe this is the eloquent solution I need! Now if only my apartment had stairs...

Posted via email from technosocialite

Experience is Currency

I learn by trying to build something, there's no other way I can discover the devils-in-the-details. Unfortunately that's an incredibly inefficient way to gain knowledge. I basically wander around stepping on every rake in the grass, while the A Students memorize someone else's route and carefully pick their way across the lawn without incident. My only saving graces are that every now and again I discover a better path, and faced with a completely new lawn I have an instinct for where the rakes are.

 

(via Pete Warden)

 

-o-o-o-

 

So many of the founders of start-ups that I have met over the years never finished college. My father is one of the smartest men I've ever met, and he has yet to achieve a degree (though Lord knows in the past 30 years he's taken far more college courses than I ever did to get my B.A.). He's also one of only a small handful of men in the world who is capable of doing his job - something to do with satellites for the military: it's rocket science and I'll never really understand it - because for the last thirty years he's had to troubleshoot myriad problems, and each test has taught him more about his craft. He pioneered the lawn, and he has a natural intuition about where the rakes are. More importantly, when he hits one, he knows that he's still ok because it's not like he's never hit a rake before. And most importantly, he has a better feel for how to deal with the proverbial rake that's hit him because he's an expert in hitting rakes.

 

I have a lot of concerns for the education system in our country, because I feel it's encouraging memorization of facts rather than promoting critical thinking and creativity in problem solving. Indeed, so many successful professionals can navigate the lawn with no problem avoiding the rakes, but they will never discover new lawns, and should they accidentally stumble upon one, they would doubtlessly collapse under the disappointment of hitting rake after rake when they are used to knowing how to avoid them.

 

I value curiosity over academic conformity any day. While I appreciate that I was fortunate enough to go to college and get a degree, and that without that piece of paper there are plenty of jobs that would turn me away instantly for lack of a tic in that box, I believe that college degrees - especially liberal arts degrees - are paradoxically overvalued and simultaneously worthless. Overvalued because they shouldn't be the gold standard for a person's worth in a marketplace, and worthless because so very many people who achieve one will never actually apply the knowledge they learned during their four-plus years of study. I know I won't.

Posted via email from technosocialite

BUT ME THIS!

​Behold the Gamerator. It's one of those home arcade cabinets that I've always wanted. It has 85 classic arcade games on it, which isn't a ton but it also comes with a Gametap Gamefly subscription so you can play all those games as well. It has joysticks and buttons and a trackball and yadda yadda yadda. So why am I so excited about the Gamerator when these sorts of things have been available for years?

​

BECAUSE IT'S ALSO A KEGERATOR. This arcade cabinet also houses "a refrigerated interior capable of holding a pony keg of domestic beer." Without fear of hyperbole, I can say AAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAA AAAAAAA THIS IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF EVER. Infinite thanks to Vaderfan70 for the tip.

 

(via Topless Robot)

 

-o-o-o-

 

This just in: Technosocialite now accepting donations for aid and assistance in procuring a Gamerator...

Posted via email from technosocialite

My Little Mario Bros

 

 

(via geekcraft)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Ridiculous? Absolutely. Fantastic? Of course. Love it, love it, love it.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Nerd Love

 

(via GraphJam)

 

-o-o-o-

 

*Sigh* a girl can dream that one day her geek will come... ;)

Posted via email from technosocialite

Great minds think alike

I read a lot. So I stumble across a lot of stuff on the interwebs. Like this fun article on Mashable that recommends chicks in tech that I can follow on Twitter. I was perusing through some of these tech-savvy profiles and blogs, when I noticed that I designed Technosocialite to look almost exactly like Leah Culver's blog! Mind you, I've never actually seen her site until today, so I was surprised and a little excited. I mean I have the same awesome style as a verified-by-Mashable badass software engineer and all-around geeky gal. That's awesome!

 

A tip of the hat to you, Ms. Culver, for your excellent style :)

Posted via email from technosocialite

Google Makes Custom Web Typography Ridiculously Easy

Google has once again given an excellent new tool to designers and developers (and even CSS-savvy “common folk”) who long for better, more diverse typefaces on the web: a cool Font Previewer that makes adding a new font to your site as simple as copy/pasting a few lines of code.

Back in May, Google rolled out its Font Directory and the Google Fonts API. The idea was that these tools would make it simpler for designers and devs to embed a wider range of fonts in their sites and applications.

The previewer takes a few steps out of that process by giving you an idea of how a given typeface will look on your site; letting you adjust the font size and weight; letting you tinker with the leading, kerning and tracking; generating a number of drop shadows if you require them; and generating the code you need to make the magic happen.

It’s pretty hot. Here’s what it looks like:

If you click “Toggle controls,” you can see what the typeface looks like sans-grid, sans-controls on a plain white screen.

Once you’re done tinkering, you’ll see a dynamically generated code sample beneath the preview area. Your code will look something like this:

Then, just copy and paste the stylesheet link and the CSS into your pages. That’s it; you’re done, and your site has a lovely, interesting new font. We tried it out ourselves, and it worked even better than expected.

All the fonts in Google’s library are open source. Previously, Google’s Font API could be integrated into websites using HTML or a JavaScript WebFont Loader that the company co-developed with Typekit.

Give the Font Previewer a try, and let us know what you think in the comments. We’re particularly interested to see if any of our readers can find bugs in this new tool.

 

(via Mashable)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I think I just typefaced in my pants...

 

As I'm neither a designer nore a developer, I plan to just poke around all morning and compare serifs and san serifs...

Posted via email from technosocialite

Woman in Technology

 

Everything about this article by Stubbornella geekette, Nicole Sullivan-Haas made me feel angry, passionate and jealous. She's a very successful programmer who currently works at Yahoo! (and with a little luck will appear at the seventh Bay Area Geek Girl Dinner, hosted by Yahoo!), and in her post she describes discrimination in the coding world. She launches her eloquently poised rant by addressing the Google Scholarships that were just awarded for women in technology to attend the JSConf.

 

She writes:

Discrimination now rarely takes the form of some guy saying “hey little lady, shouldn’t you let a man handle that?” It is much more subtle, but just as ugly. These days, bright, thoughtful, enlightened people assume that the absence of women in certain fields results from women being unable to compete on merit. The assumption that, if someone creates a scholarship for women, it is because otherwise, women can’t hack it.

She goes on to describe how there is a culture of "coding cowboys" who assert their masculinity through proving themselves via their coding abilities, and these men create an environment that is competitive and not collaborative. She nails the average coding cowboy's personality and then juxtaposes it against a true team player who creates and fosters an environment in which everyone can learn and develop, ultimately leading to a better team and therefore a better product.

 

Someone even once told her "That guy only wants to work with you because he wants to sleep with you. None of your ideas are that interesting, I’m just saying, don’t get mad, it is the only possible explanation." If that isn't blatant discrimination, I don't know what is. But do men ever have to prove themselves in the tech industry? Are they not automatically assumed to be competent because of their sex? I'd like to hope not. I am not a programmer, so I don't face the same challenges. Indeed, publishing is dominated by women (except at the executive levels), but I can't help but feel angry that women are still being taken for granted as inferiors, passionate that there are women in the field who chuck the gender stereotypes of the tech industry and do what they love to do and do it well, and jealous that I never sought a path that was more integrated into tech. As it stands, I live on the outskirts of the tech world, peering in with lustful eyes, but I harbor respect and admiration for women who can not only code well, but who can also find a comfortable and competitive niche in the male-dominated industry.

 

A tip of the hat to you, Nicole.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Should you worry about the tags on Wal-Mart underwear?

The retail giant Wal-Mart will place radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on underwear, jeans and other consumer items, according to several news reports, including one today from the Wall Street Journal. Companies have long used such "smart tags" to keep track of the inventory of goods going through the supply chain, but the move by Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, to put them on individual consumer items marks a (not unexpected) shift toward something that privacy advocates have long feared.

...

 

If the idea that corporations might want to use RFID tags to spy on individuals sounds far-fetched, it is worth considering an IBM patent filed in 2001 and granted in 2006. The patent describes exactly how the cards can be used for tracking and profiling even if access to official databases is unavailable or strictly limited. Entitled “Identification and Tracking of Persons Using RFID-Tagged Items in Store Environments,” it chillingly details RFID’s potential for surveillance in a world where networked RFID readers called “person tracking units” would be incorporated virtually everywhere people go—in “shopping malls, airports, train stations, bus stations, elevators, trains, airplanes, restrooms, sports arenas, libraries, theaters, [and] museums”—to closely monitor people’s movements.

According to the patent, here is how it would work in a retail environment: an “RFID tag scanner located [in the desired tracking location]... scans the RFID tags on [a] person.... As that person moves around the store, different RFID tag scanners located throughout the store can pick up radio signals from the RFID tags carried on that person and the movement of that person is tracked based on these detections.... The person tracking unit may keep records of dif­ferent locations where the person has visited, as well as the visitation times.”

The fact that no personal data are stored in the RFID tag does not present a problem, IBM explains, because “the personal information will be obtained when the person uses his or her credit card, bank card, shopper card or the like.” The link between the unique RFID number of the tag and a person’s identity needs to be made only once for the card to serve as a proxy for the person thereafter.…

(via Scientific American)

 

-o-o-o-

1. Wal-Mart already scares the shit out of me for  a variety of reasons, none the least being the clientele they attract, endearingly dubbed by me and my family as Wal-Martians.
2. There are already dozens, perhaps hundreds of retailers that use RFID tags as anti-theft devices - you only have to cut out the tag after you've bought the garment. HOWEVER, I understand that Wal-Mart may just be creating RFID tags that are embedded in the seams, rather than obnoxiously sticking out, waiting to be cut.
3. I certainly don't think that "privacy is dead" as many corporate douchebags do, but I almost never use cash, so i expect that to a certain extent my personal information is already being collected and aggregated. Probably more than I want to know.

Are we slowly becoming a society that resembles 1984? Possibly. Is allowing our personal information enabling the government and corporate interests to know more about us than we want them to know? Likely. But look at the technological advances that are also coming out of it. How nice is it that you can just tap your credit card on the little reader and your transaction is complete? Wouldn't it be cool if you could just walk through a scanner and complete your entire inventory checkout and payment transaction all within an instant? Right? Well that's RFID and related technologies. Am I crazy about the idea of being tracked and data collected about me everywhere I go? Of course not, but it's already happening, and I definitely appreciate the other conveniences this tracking affords me.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Does you know someone who compulsively forwards bogus email rumors?

I get it all the time. Sometimes it's political, sometime it's religious, sometimes it's scientific, but it's always bullshit. The women of a certain age in my family forward "fun facts" that are untrue, and they would know that if they took 2 seconds to run a Google search and find out for themselves. Today's flavor is the below email, super obnoxious formatting mostly removed for your sanity:

Two moons on 27th August 2010

27^th Aug the Whole World is waiting for............. 

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky

starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will culminate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles off earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons.

 

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. 

 

Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

Well, a quick search on "two moons mars august 27" will lead you to this article from Science.NASA.gov, a fairly reputable source, given the subject. The article states:

Just when you thought it was safe to check your email...

For the sixth year in a row, a message about the Red Planet is popping up in email boxes around the world. It instructs readers to go outside after dark on August 27th and behold the sky. "Mars will look as large as the full moon," it says. "No one alive today will ever see this again."

Don't believe it.

Here's what will really happen if you go outside after dark on August 27th. Nothing. Mars won't be there. On that date, the red planet will be nearly 250 million km away from Earth and completely absent from the evening sky.

Right: Only in Photoshop does Mars appear as large as a full Moon.

The Mars Hoax got its start in 2003 when Earth and Mars really did have a close encounter. On Aug. 27th of that year, Mars was only 56 million km away, a 60,000-year record for martian close approaches to Earth. Someone sent an email alerting friends to the event. The message contained some misunderstandings and omission--but what email doesn't? A piece of advanced technology called the "forward button" did the rest.

So not only do we have a case of "any fool can create a hoax email and many of them do," but you also have people setting up their lawn chairs and binoculars for an astrophysical marvel that will never happen.

 

So I ask, why does this happen? In a day and age when information is ubiquitous and so easily accessible, why do people lack basic curiosity check on the facts that are presented to them in such an obviously unreliable manner? That is, why do so many people lack a filter to the netterwebs when they know the very same webs are full of sites that say the moon landing and the Holocaust were both faked? Why do people trust email forwards so much?

 

I send my family the Snopes.com link to nearly every urban myth they sends me, but they continue to blindly forward nonsense.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Damon Lindelof on Inception

 

(via Twitter)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Dude... you wrote LOST. Pretty sure you never need to have another idea again in your life and you'll still bo ok...

Posted via email from technosocialite

iPhone Is Coming To T-Mobile USA In Q3

T-Mobile USA is very close to getting the iPhone in the fall, ending Apple’s exclusive relationship with AT&T, according to a highly placed source at the wireless company.

Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced stage, our source says, and it’s 80 percent likely that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile in Q3.

The source works at T-Mobile but asked not to be quoted directly and to remain anonymous because they aren’t authorized to talk to the press.

T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, which carries the iPhone in Germany, was able to influence, the source said. T-Mobile USA is the fourth-largest U.S. carrier with 33.7 million customers.

Apple’s exclusive contract with AT&T is reportedly ending this year, and many expect Apple to offer the iPhone to other wireless companies. Overseas, Apple has routinely added extra carriers when exclusivity deals in those markets expire.

(via Cult of Mac)

-o-o-o-

Now this I can believe! I still don't think Apple iwll ever make a CDMA phone, but opening exclusivity to the only other GSM network in America makes sense. I just expect it will be extrememly limited as the T-Mobile network in America is super miniature compared to AT&T's craptastic network. No way they could handle a fraction of the volume of users and data bandwith that AT&T currently accomodates. But here's to hoping! Any alleviation for AT&T is good news for current subscribers.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Typeface Terrorism

 

Very important: This advice/warning extends to any business and individual in the world, not only Fortune 500 companies: Don't use Comic Sans! Or Papyrus. Thank you very much. You can keep going on with your lives now. [Thanks Dave!]

 

(via Giz)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Yet another hilarious example of this infamously passive aggressive typeface. I love that the mockingly passive aggressive retort is in Arial!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Is Your Boyfriend Reading Your Facebook Messages?

According to a recent survey put out by AskMen.com, dudes are a nosy bunch — more than a few admitted to snooping around their partners’ inboxes.

AskMen’s “Great Male Survey” — which is currently live on the site, chock full of manly stats — was conducted over a two-month period, during which the website collected the responses of more than 100,000 dudes.

The questions range from Facebook use to online dating, but we found a certain collection of stats intriguing: those pertaining to online privacy and relationships. According to the survey, by and large, men believe that privacy is dead online. Although 21.31% opined that privacy is alive and kickin’, 53.18% answered, “Yes, but not online,” and 25.51% said no.

The gaggle of hombres’ answers in other arenas backed up this assertion. When asked if they had ever read a partner’s Facebook messages, e-mail or other electronic correspondence, the men answered thusly:

• Yes, but only with my partner’s knowledge: 23.51%
• Yes, but only because it was open on the desktop: 13.32%
• Yes, I broke into my partner’s e-mail or messaging account: 8.90%
• No, but I would if I suspected my partner was up to something: 21.54%
• No, I respect my partner’s privacy: 32.73%

While 32.73% is a still a goodly number of considerate bros — and while the survey doesn’t specify what “with my partner’s knowledge” means (it could entail, say, looking up flight information or something of that nature) — it seems a pretty substantial number of guys have snooped on a partner.

Take comfort, though, ladies and gents — dudes are decidedly not down with actual stalking. When asked, “If you had the ability to, would you track your partner’s physical movement (with a GPS implant, for example)?” only 3.56% said “Yes,” while 79.28% said no. That’s rather heartening, but considering men are more down with Facebook (69.55% use it regularly) than geo-location (54.55% don’t use Foursquare or other geolocation apps because they don’t understand it or know what it is), perhaps it’s just a matter of time before men start embracing radar love. Totally kidding (I hope).

 

(via Mashable!)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Perhaps it's because I've never been a jealous woman, but I genuinely think reading your SO's email or fb messages or text messages or ANY form of third-party communication is a clear sign of a guilty conscience. I know one couple where the man constantly reads her correspondences, to the point where she has to delete anything right after she sends it, out of fear that he will get angry that she didn't tell him something. Seriously. She says she has nothing to hide, so she doesn't care that he does it, but my conclusion about that arrangement is 1. he's a control freak, and 2. he's probably suspicious of her because he himself is crazy shady and therefore he assumes she must be up to the same antics that he is.

 

I disapprove, strongly. And if you plan on reading your SO's messages, be prepared to find out something you never wanted to know, because if you've reached that point y'all probably don't have a very trusting relationship anyway.

Posted via email from technosocialite

RIP: Google Kills the Nexus One

Looks like the Nexus One is on its way out. Google has announced that its latest shipment of the smartphones will be its last. Previously, Google said it would be closing the Nexus One online store, but now the device will no longer be manufactured. The Nexus One, which just received the latest Android update, was sold through a contract with T-Mobile and unattached to a contract directly from Google. Purchasing a contract-free phone, though, would set users back $529. Purchasing the device through T-Mobile cost just $179.

 

(via geeksugar)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Remember when this was supposed to be the iPhone killer? Wasn't that earlier this year? I guess all not-so-good things must come to an early end, right?

Posted via email from technosocialite

LOST: The bookclub (an update)

As I mentioned a while back, my friend Tony B. and I are LOST aficionados who mourn the termination of our favorite mystery series. As any true fanatics would do, we are grasping at straws to continue the enrichment of the show into our lives. We've compiled a list of 52 books that have physically appeared in the show, and we've started reading Watership Down by Richard Adams. Correction: for about 3 weeks now I have been sitting on the first seven chapters, which I read the day we came up with this idea, and I've been waiting for Tony to 1. order his copy of the book, 2. receive said copy, 3. begin reading, and 4. finish the first seven chapters. Now that we' launched our blog forum where we intend to discuss the book with respect to its influence on the show, I will be more proactive in making sure we read at a steady pace and post our thoughts and ideas about our readings. Wish us luck!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Not your father's style manual

The Chicago Manual of Style addresses some recent questions about citation, grammar, and even fashion.

Q. Hi there! For a sign for bachelorette parties, would the phrase "Bachelorette Out of Control" be more appropriate than "Bachelorette's Out of Control"? The question is one of contraction, because I don't see how "Bachelorette's Out of Control" can be correct without "The" prefacing it. Thank you!

A. Out-of-control bachelorettes who require appropriate signage aren't very convincing, but the first version is better.

I think they punted a bit on the "how to cite a tshirt" question.

 

(via kottke)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Oh Jason Kottke. Your cutting with and rolling humor tickle the very cockles of my pedantic little heart.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Amazon: We sell more books in Kindle format than hardcover

 

Amazon today released an announcement boasting that sales of the Kindle device have tripled since the unit price dropped from $259 to $189. And with that, a related piece of news. Founder Jeff Bezos: "While our hardcover sales continue to grow, the Kindle format has now overtaken the hardcover format. Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books--astonishing when you consider that we've been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months."

(via boingboing)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Astonishing? Is it really astonishing that people who purchase a lot of books prefer to read them on a digital format where the price of each book is lower than the print version? While I definitaly think this speaks to the shift in media consumption - with an emphasis on the rising popularity and presence of digital media - I think to say that kindle books outsell print books on Amazon.com, is a tad shot-sighted.

Posted via email from technosocialite

My Cinderella Would Wear These Fiber Optic Heels

Italian designer Francesca Castagnacci made a pair of heels fit for any girl—or at least any girl who's serious about her bandwidth. They're made from strands of fiber optics as thin as human hair and lit by a LED.

If any girl ever leaves one of these behind, I will search far and wide for her in a totally not stalkerish way.

 

(via Giz)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Right now all I can think about is how long I can forego eating to save up for a pair...

Posted via email from technosocialite

How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made

How do you take the social web by storm in a day, winning over even the coldest of hearts and gaining international acclaim - with commercials?

A team of creatives, tech geeks, marketers and writers gathered in an undisclosed location in Portland, Oregon yesterday and produced 87 short comedic YouTube videos about Old Spice. In real time. They leveraged Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and blogs. They dared to touch the wild beasts of 4chan and they lived to tell the tale. Even 4chan loved it. Everybody loved it; those videos and 74 more made so far today have now been viewed more than 4 million times and counting. The team worked for 11 hours yesterday to make 87 short videos, that's just over 7 minutes per video, not accounting for any breaks taken. Then they woke up this morning and they are still making more videos right now. Here's how it's going down.

 

(via RWW)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I always appreciate great marketing, possibly because I hate it en someone tries to sell me something on bogus claims, hype, or just plain boring statements. Call me a product of the instant-gratification generation, but if a campaign is clever and exciting, I buy straight into it (examples here, here and here).

 

Enter the Old Spice commercials. The TV ads were a smash hit. Then they launched (and rapidly ended) a string of real-time viral responses, which was incredibly successful and remarkably brilliant. The article is definitely worth a read, as you see just how much effort went into creating these commercials back to back while promoting a brand without shoving it down your face.

 

Old Spice FTW.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Who Actually Made All Those Brand Name Sunglasses?

With lots of brands of shades available today, you’d think that the market for sunglasses is a healthy and competitive one – but you’d be wrong. Brett Arends of the Wall Street Journal writes:

Do you prefer the "quality" of Ray-Ban to Oakley? Do you think Bulgari is better than Dolce & Gabbana, or Salvatore Ferragamo is better than Prada? Wake up. They’re all made by one company, Italian manufacturer Luxottica–one of the biggest consumer companies that consumers have never heard of. Luxottica also makes sunglasses branded Burberry, Chanel, Polo Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, Stella McCartney, Tiffany, Versace, Vogue, Persol, Miu Miu, Tory Burch and Donna Karan.

"We manufacture about 70% of those brands in our factories in Italy, and the balance in America and China," says Luxottica spokesman Luca Biondolillo. "We do the design, the manufacturing, and the marketing," he adds. The company makes most of those brands under license, working closely with designers at the relevant fashion houses. But it owns several brands itself, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples and REVO. [...]

In many cases, the same company is also selling you the glasses. Luxottica also owns LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut. This is extreme vertical integration. The eye doctor telling you that you need a new pair of glasses, the sales people helping you choose them and the people who design and make the glasses all work for the same company.

(via neatorama)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I completely agree that the quality of all of the above brands are similar, but that is to say that they are high quality. And the difference does lie somewhat in the design. If you prefer a cetain size or shape of glasses - especially ones that are very trendy at present - you will likely pay more than if you just want UV protection for your eyes.

Posted via email from technosocialite

5 Useless Gadgets that Solve Non-Existent Problems

For every great automated device that makes our home life easier, there's bound to be several that miss the mark. They can't all be Roombas, right? But even amongst the graveyard of products that don't catch on, there's a few stragglers that really never stood a chance. They're solving household problems that don't exist, and tackling tasks that are easier done by hand or foot.

 

(via Unplggd)

 

-o-o-o-

 

This cracked me up. I mean, I can see how some of these poeple probably thought they had the next $1B product, right?

Posted via email from technosocialite

Celebrate Spain's World Cup Win With a Championship Case

Celebrate Spain's World Cup victory with a special edition iPhone 3G/3GS case from Uncommon. Though the company recently launched its line of iPhone 4 cases, iPhone 3G and 3GS soccer fans get some love with this celebratory collection. A month ago at the start of the World Cup, Uncommon launched its World Cup collection, featuring cases decorated with flags of the countries participating in this year's World Cup. One by one as teams were eliminated, the cases were eliminated from the collection. Now, the Spain flag is the last remaining case from the original group - and Uncommon has added several other World Cup-themed designs, including a case decked out in a World Cup trophy commemorating Spain's victory.

The cases retail for $40 and are available at getuncommon.com.

 

(via geeksugar)

 

-o-o-o-

 

OMG I want it!

 

I mean, my screen display has always been the San Francisco 49ers logo, so this is the only way I can conceive of having my two biggest passions adorn my geek gadget, amirite?

Posted via email from technosocialite

I Wirte Like

I stumbled on this site from a friend who sent me the link in gchat. The site boasts:

Check what famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them to those of the famous writers.

When I entered the text from this post, I saw the following:

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

I tried a few other posts, and I ran the gamut from Dan Brown (ew?) to Isaac Asimov to James Fenimore Cooper. They all seem similar, right? Right?

 

Check it out at I Write Like.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Given Truth, the Misinformed Believe Lies More

SharpFang writes "In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that misinformed people, particularly political partisans, rarely changed their minds when exposed to corrected facts in news stories. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger."

 

(via Slashdot)

 

-o-o-o-

 

 

Well that explains a lot...

Posted via email from technosocialite

$20,000 Hollandia iCon Bed Is Really Just A Gigantic SNES

Oh, Hollandia. You can say your $20,000 bed is iPad-friendly because of the headboard's speaker system and docking station, but when you combine purple and grey like that, all I see is a gigantic Super NES. [BornRich]

 

(via Giz)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I was wondering where I had left my gigantic, oversized console! Turns out I was sleeping on it the whole time...

Posted via email from technosocialite

Developers: In UK, Computer Science Graduates the Least Employable on Friday July 02, @05:38AM

"The BBC reports that in the UK, computer science graduates are now the least employable of students leaving with a degree, 17% of them being unable to find a job within six months of graduation. Unsurprisingly, medics, educators and lawyers do better, but even much mocked communications and creative arts graduates are finding work more easily."

 

(via Slashdot)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I wonder why that is? Is it just that so many people are studying computer science that the market is saturated? I would still think that the industry could use people with computer science skills in all aspects of the trade, not just IT or development. Makes me wonder whether there's a similar issue happening in the USA, or do we have more start ups to employ all those recent Comp Sci grads?

Posted via email from technosocialite

E-Textbooks: Barnes & Noble Targets Students with NOOKstudy

Earlier this morning, Barnes & Noble revealed NOOKstudy, a new software e-reader for Mac and Windows that focuses on making electronic textbooks more useful. Barnes & Noble developed this software with input from students and universities. NOOKstudy will allow students to read and annotate textbooks, as well as store copies of their syllabi, lecture notes and other course-related documents. The software, which will be available for free, is scheduled to ship in August.

Some analysts predict that close to 20% of textbooks sold in 2014 will be in digital form, so it only makes sense for a large retailer like Barnes & Noble to try to move into this market. With this move, Barnes & Noble is challenging Amazon, whose Kindle hasn't been able to succeed in educational settings yet, as well as online textbook services like CourseSmart.

(via RWW)

-o-o-o-

I'm actually really excited about this. I'm not necessarily stoked for this particular platform for any reason, but I'm excited about the way this game is developing. Anyone who says digital publishing isn't the future of the industry is delusional, and it's awesome to watch how this new, growing market is being provided for. I am super stoked to see the way publishers are engaging content to keep information relevant and have an advantage over their competitors. I think all these developments serve to better both the industry and its consumers, and I'm really happy about it.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Magnetic Thinking Putty

*LE0

Millions of tiny micron-sized magnets are embedded in each handful of Magnetic Thinking Putty. Use the included super-strong neodymium iron boron cube magnet to control the putty like a snake charmer.

 

(via notcot)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I want this. How do I not have this right now?

Posted via email from technosocialite

W00t! sends Associated Press a bill for quoting its blog

When W00t! posted its delightful notice about being acquired by Amazon, it was picked up and re-run by blogs all over the net. Not wanting to miss out on the action, the Associated Press ran the story and the text, too.

One problem: the AP has previously told bloggers that quotations -- however brief -- should be licensed before publication. They even offer these licenses. For a small fee, AP will generously allow you to quote one of its articles on your blog (provided that you don't do so in a way that criticizes the AP, of course, and they reserve the right to take the quote back at any time).

So W00t! sent the AP a bill for $17.50 for the quotation:

The AP, we can't thank you enough for looking our way. You see, when we showed off our good news on Wednesday afternoon, we expected we'd get a little bit of attention. But when we found your little newsy thing you do, we couldn't help but notice something important. And that something is this: you printed our web content in your article! The web content that came from our blog! Why, isn't that the very thing you've previously told nu-media bloggers they're not supposed to do?

So, The AP, here we are. Just to be fair about this, we've used your very own pricing scheme to calculate how much you owe us. By looking through the link above, and comparing your post with our original letter, we've figured you owe us roughly $17.50 for the content you borrowed from our blog post, which, by the way, we worked very very hard to create. But, hey. We're all friends here. And invoicing is such a hassle in today's paperless society, are we right? How about this: instead of cutting us a check for the web content you liberated from our site, all you'll need to do is show us your email receipt from today's two pack of Sennheiser MX400 In-Ear Headphones, and we'll call it even.

 

(via boingboing)

 

-o-o-o-

 

I know this is form last week, but I'm playing catch up now that soccer is over. I think this is a what goes around comes around slap in the face for the AP, who absolutely borrow content all the time, yet who expect to be paid when the aggregated content is used. Well done, w00t!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Typography Activity Book

Love typography? Want to teach your kids how to avoid the typographical faux pas of using Comic Sans?

Norwegian design house Studio 3 has created just the book: behold, the Hyperactivitypography book, a clever kid’s activity book for typography lovers.

 

(via Neatorama)

 

-o-o-o-

 

Being a typeface aficionado, I have to ask, why is this allegedly just for kids? While watching the Germany/Uruguay game this Saturday, I had a conversation with my uncle about comic sans, and had no idea what I was talking about. He'd never even heard of Comic Sans, let alone the passive aggressive implications of the notoriously hated typeface.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

Reading David McCullough’s 1776, I found myself wondering: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? If so, when did American accents diverge from British accents?

The answer surprised me.

I’d always assumed that Americans used to have British accents, and that American accents diverged after the Revolutionary War, while British accents remained more or less the same.

Americans in 1776 did have British accents in that American accents and British accents hadn’t yet diverged. That’s not too surprising.

What’s surprising, though, is that those accents were much closer to today’s American accents than to today’s British accents. While both have changed over time, it’s actually British accents that have changed much more drastically since then.

First, let’s be clear: the terms “British accent” and “American accent” are oversimplifications; there were, and still are, many constantly-evolving regional British and American accents. What many Americans think of as “the British accent” is the standardized Received Pronunciation, also known as “BBC English.”

While most American accents are rhotic, the standard British accent is non-rhotic. (Rhotic speakers pronounce the ‘R’ sound in the word “hard”; non-rhotic speakers do not.)

So, what happened?

In 1776, both American accents and British accents were largely rhotic.

It was around this time that non-rhotic speech took off in southern England, especially among the upper class; this “prestige” non-rhotic speech was standardized, and has been spreading in Britain ever since.

Most American accents, however, remained rhotic.

There are a few fascinating exceptions: New York and New England accents became non-rhotic, perhaps because of the region’s British connections. Irish and Scottish accents are still rhotic.

If you’d like to learn more, this passage in The Cambridge History of the English Language is a good place to start.

 

-o-o-o-

 

(via Nick Patrick)

 

This is especially amusing to me, because when i lived in England, my roommates would make fun of the way that speak, citing that English originates from England, hence their pronunciation has to be correct, rendering my speech incorrect. Turns out they were wrong after all!

Posted via email from technosocialite

5 Organizations Helping Women Get Ahead in Tech

What happens when “equality in the workplace” is simply a numbers game? The ratio of women trained in computer science education is even lower now than it was in the 1930s. In 2008, girls made up just 17% of Advanced Placement test takers in computer science (the lowest percentage of any subject) and held less than 20% of CS degrees.

-o-o-o-

 

(via Mashable)

 

The list of resources is largely for younger females or hyper local, but I think it's important that there is a movement to inspire and enable women to learn tech-heavy subjects. When I was on the FIRST Robotics team in high school, the first year our team was probably 70% men, but we three girls were largely over-represented on our team in comparison with the tournament in San Jose, where the ratio seemed closer to 10:1 guys to girls.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Felicitaciones, Espana!

 

I cried when the blew the whistle and called it FT for Spain against Netherlands yesterday. This is the first time Spain has ever won the World Cup, and it's the first time a European country has ever won outside of Europe. Spain is now the only team apart from Brazil to win a Cup off their home continent, and they are added to the short list of countries that have won while not playing host (also included are Germany, Italy, France and Brazil).

 

It was an extremely emotional and exciting tournament, and I always hope but didn't necessarily always believe that Spain would make it to the finals. Winning is all the  more endearing.

 

Now that WC is over, and I have another four years before I can obsess over offsides and yellow cards, I guess I need to get back into following La Liga. Especially since there's another month before football pre-season starts, and Real Madrid is coming to Candlestick August 4th!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Never fear... The World Cup is alomst over, and I'll resume blog posting next week

 

I know I've been rubbish about posting the past four weeks, but there are only so many hours in the day, and recently so many of them have been dedicated to following the stats in South Africa. Fret not, faithful follower(s?), for I will resume aggregating geeky things after Spain wins over Netherlands this Sunday. It's going to happen. Paul says so.

Have a great weekend, and check back next week as I kick it into overdrive with posts that I have been reading but not sharing in the past several days.

-o-o-o

 

Posted via email from technosocialite

LOST: The book club

I know there are tons of LOST book clubs out there, but myself and my friend Tony B. are starting our own.

 

I scanned 6 different lists and came up with 52 so far. LOSTpedia has 91, but some are on there because of an allusion. For example, Dicken's A Christmas Carol made their list because

Sawyer describes himself as "The Ghost of Christmas Future" while banging on the door of The Swan ("Because You Left"), and The Man in Black as "The Ghost of Christmas Past" ("The Substitute").

So I don't think those count, but anywhere the book actually appears in an episode, it'll go on the list. The first book we're going to start with will be Richard Adams' Watership Down. We're going to set up a forum where we can have discourse about the book, and I'll drop a link with my final composited list in a later post. I hope it goes well! If this first book is a success, we'll do another. I'd love to tackle the entire LOST book list, but I think I need a motivator, so I'm hoping Mr. B. and I can push each other to just keep reading.

 

Wish us luck!

Posted via email from technosocialite

Complaining about AT&T to the FCC and BBB: An update

 

On Thursday, 17 June 2010, after not being able to watch the Mexico - France game via the $9.99 subscription I had just purchased through MobiTV, an iPhone app that allows one to stream live TV to their device, I finally decided I'd had it with AT&T's faulty network, and I filed a complaint against AT&T with both the FCC and the BBB.

 

To date, the only communication I've received from either the FCC or the BBB directly is a snailmail letter and an email, respectively, each acknowledging my complaint and providing me with a reference number.

 

I received my first voicemail from Debbie O'Brien, Client Service Specialist at the Office of the President, on June 23rd, but somehow I have no recollection of listening to it or even receiving it. Luckily she called me back on Friday, June 25th. I couldn't answer her call because I work in downtown San Francisco, where AT&T's coverage borderlines on useless, so I called her back from a landline. She asked me what the problem was, and I explained to her exactly what I had outlined in the complaints I had filed. She politely threatened to transfer me to a device specialist to rule out any probability that it was my iPhone 3GS. I nipped that in the bud, as I've done this several times - basically every time I call AT&T and tell them how much their network sucks and I can't get reception.

 

Then she asked me what I want.

 

I told her I want a reduction in my data plan. My big hang up is that I'm paying $30 for "unlimited" data that I can't access when I want to. Which makes it very limited. She said she's take my complaint to "the table" and call me back.

 

Sure enough, Debbie called me a few hours later with an offer of $75. Her rationale was that there are 15 months left on my contract, so they can either take $75 off my next bill, or they can prorate it over the 15 months. Seventy-five divided by fifteen. They want to take $5 off my bill each month and call that a fair deal. If you're an iPhone user, you should know that you can get the exact same deal without ever even talking to AT&T, because right now you can reduce your package from "Unlimited" to Max 2GB/ month and they'll knock $5 off your bill if you do. While an average iPhone user consumes about 400MB/ month, I have used 14.2GB since the beginning of September when I purchased the 3GS, which averages to about 1.42GB/ month. Reviewing my data statements, I have NEVER gone over 2GB/ month, so this "offer" they are presenting to me is anything but.

 

I wrote to Ms. O'Brien (had to email because my phone doesn't get enough service to keep a call a few minutes without dropping it), saying pretty much what I just explained above, only with much stronger verbs and adjectives. Her response back was that what they can give me is this: If I agree to take the $25/mo for 2GB deal, they'll take an additional $5/ mo off my bill. So essentially I'd be saving $10/ mo from what I'm paying now. When I first started out, I wanted $15/ mo. That was my minimum. Half service? Half price! Right? So that's where that stands. I'm debating this issue until further notice.

 

Advice welcome.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Verizon iPhone Rumored For Early Next Year

Many readers are submitting coverage from around the Net, all based on a Bloomberg piece quoting two anonymous sources who insist that Verizon Wireless will offer a CDMA iPhone in January 2011. No one at Verizon or Apple would confirm, of course, and no one at AT&T would comment. "The iPhone, which has been the sole domain of rival AT&T in the US since June 2007, will give Verizon a boost in its competition for smartphone customers, UBS AG analyst John Hodulik said in an interview. Verizon customers, who numbered 92.8 million at the end of the first quarter, may buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, he estimates. ... 'Apple is going to dramatically increase the number of devices it sells in the US when exclusivity at AT&T ends,' said Hodulik. ... 'It's hard to ignore the quality issues that AT&T has faced.'"

 

(via Slashdot)

 

-o-o-o-

 

1. I'll believe it when i see it. Still pretty skepti that Apple will make a CDMA phone.

 

2. Does anyone really think that Verizon's infrastructure is so far better than AT&T's that it won't have the same problems AT&T is having now? I mean, don't get me wrong - I hate AT&T as much as the next iPhone user - I just don't expect much more from Verizon.

Posted via email from technosocialite

Apple: job post for an antenna engineer (this is real!)

I can't copy and paste it for you because I'm at work and Websense is blocking it, but here's the link to se the ACTUALY APPLE POST for an antenna engineer. No joke.

 

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=55852&CurrentPage=1

Posted via email from technosocialite

Best IT Support Business Card… EVER!

If you work as an IT support specialist, you may consider having a similar card made for yourself, so that the next time a client calls in for support, you just tell them to look at your card. Brilliant!

 

(via geeks are sexy)

 

-o-o-o-

 

You bet your ass my business card would say that if I worked in IT!

Posted via email from technosocialite